Discover why email is at the core of a multi-channel marketing strategy.

Forbes.com confirms what we at Net Atlantic already know, email is, was, and will continue to be the core driver of customer engagement. Simms Jenkins, CEO of BrightWave Marketing and author of The New Inbox: Why Email Marketing Is the Digital Marketing Hub in a Social and Mobile World acknowledges that social media is a valuable tool, but it’s not the most effective way to drive sales. “If you have just one bullet left in your gun to sell something, then email should always be that bullet.”

Today’s consumers, in both the B2B and B2C markets, are entrenched in a multifaceted online universe. Information is coming to them from many sources-websites, social, mobile, texts and tweets, press releases, blogs and online ads. The trick is to drive your customers to your content. The information is static until you give them a reason and a mechanism to explore your piece of the universe. What’s the trick? Why, it’s email, of course! Email plays a key role in driving traffic to all other channels.

The idea is to think of the Internet as your universe and you’re directing your audience to consume your content. You need to give them clear direction on how to get to and interact with all of your marketing channels. Your website’s utility is still of significant importance in your overall marketing strategy but email remains firmly at the core of a cross-channel strategy and recognizing email’s role as the center of this strategy is critical to your success.

How does email accomplish this feat? People come to you with various expectations about your products and services. Understanding your customer is key. What do you know about them? What behaviors can you glean from them based on their interaction with your email communications to them? What do you offer that connects with them? Tracking this information and segmenting your list subscribers based on this critical demographic and behavioral data allows you to personalize your message and deliver timely, relevant information to them which will propel your sales cycle along. The reason email is more effective than other marketing channels is because you get to take the conversation about your products and services to your subscribers’ most personal online space-their inbox-and invite them to connect with you via social media.